Racing: Hard luck stories abound after Mooney Valley failures

MELBOURNE - By the time you read this the road to Moonee Valley will hopefully be cleared.

It will have been huge job, requiring an army of road services workers in hard hats and those trendy orange safely vests but by now they should have returned things to normal.

Because as anybody who watched the action from Victoria Cup night at Moonee Valley on Saturday knows the road the New Zealand representatives took to the track must have been littered with black cats, cracked mirrors and dead chinamen.

The presence of such icons could be the only explanation for one of the strangest nights of harness racing.

At first glance it didn't seem all that bad. There were four main races of interest on Saturday night and New Zealanders won two of them - Lyell Creek in the Dullard Cup (wow, there's a shock) and Rare Gem, who may have cemented Victoria Derby favouritism by bolting away with his heat.

Then there was the downside. A complete whitewash in the Victoria Cup and the unfathomable failure of Perfect Seelster and Matai Mackenzie to qualify for the Victoria Derby.

The $A250,000 cup was a cocktail of hard luck stories for the Kiwis and stunning form reversals for a couple of Aussies - namely winner Shakamaker.

Just seven days earlier Shakamaker was completely blown away by Black Cam in a lead-up race, performing so poorly trainer John Justice jumped off him to drive stablemate Safe And Sound.

But on Saturday night he came from 8th with 800m to run, sat three wide and still beat the best field of the year, nosing out his stablemate, with Atitagain third.

It was a stunning form reversal from a horse who had been a shadow of himself in races like the Miracle Mile and West Australian Cup before last week's drubbing by Black Cam.

While Shakamaker was turning his season around, the Kiwis were filing for divorce from Lady Luck.

Kiwi favourite Yulestar is still waiting for a cart into the race after settling second last. His driver Tony Shaw expected those in front to move around and put the pressure on. They didn't and when Yulestar eventually got going he ended up five wide and needing miracle that didn't come. He ran fifth but lost few fans.

At least he got a run. Which is more than you can say for Ouch, who trainer-driver Mark Purdon is adamant could have won but for being held up on the home bend before flying home for fourth.

Purdon had waited for Tony Herlihy to make his move on stablemate Black Cam but the latter hung when Herlihy wanted him to sprint at the 400m and cost himself and his stablemate their winning hopes.

"I think Ouch could have won had he got clearer earlier because he was flying at the end," said Purdon.

"He has really turned the corner while Black Cam was beautifully driven by Tony but hung in on the bend, which is strange because he hung out for me last week. I can't really explain that."

While Purdon was pondering that, big brother Barry was wondering whether his pacing great Holmes D G has a split personality.

The dual MIracle Mile winner, so often the Grand Circuit hero, turned punters' villain again by settling last and never improved.

"He travelled well in the run but just showed nothing," said Purdon.

By that stage of the night the Purdon brothers were hoping somebody would wake them up from their nightmare.

Perfect Seelster, trained by Mark, and Matai Mackenzie, trained by Barry, galloped their way out of the Victoria Derby field in the first heat.

Favourite Perfect Seelster started it, galloping for no reason early and slightly checking Matai Mackenzie, who recovered quickly but was then checked out of the race 200m later. Neither finished in the first six and will now miss the weakest Victoria Derby in years.

"I couldn't believe it, he [Perfect Seelster] has never done anything like that in his life. He sure picked a bad time to start," said Mark Purdon.

And just for good measure Purdon copped the worst luck when Last Sunset made his stable debut in the Dullard Cup.

He was expected to run second to Lyell Creek but was parked out for the entire 2570m race and faded late to fourth.

He wouldn't have beaten Lyell Creek but with a better trip would have run second, which was worth a cool $A20,000.

So when the crusher dust settled the New Zealand team was left with one feature race win, a minor win and six hard luck stories.

But there was one consolation. It could have been worse. They could have been the men behind Courage Under Fire.

Because the one fact confirmed on this strange night of harness racing was that Courage Under Fire is now a cautionary tale.

Forget all that rubbish from his connections about stallion problems and racing styles. The former Kiwi champ led, wasn't pressured and had the Victoria Cup presented to him but dropped out.

And it was sad. Especially for the believers who backed him down to $2.50 favouritism.

Poor little Courage didn't need black cats, cracked mirrors or a divorce from Lady Luck.

He was pathetic all by himself.